Words & Numbers
Words & Numbers
Free the People
Episode 476: Be Thankful
40 minutes Posted Nov 27, 2025 at 12:00 pm.
Introduction and Overview
The Government Shutdown’s Aftermath
Border Patrol’s Expanding 100-Mile Authority
Predictive Policing, License Plate Tracking, and Searches
Civil Asset Forfeiture and Presumed Guilt
Foolishness of the Week: The “Stoned Thanksgiving Guests” Trend
What We’re Thankful to Not Have
Value Added Tax
Vaccines and the Elimination of Deadly Diseases
Free Speech and Peaceful Protest
Women’s Rights
Guns as the Great Equalizer
Homeschooling Freedoms and Education Restrictions of the Past
Criminalization of Debt and Bankruptcy Laws
Why Jailing People for Using Drugs is a Stupid Idea
Friendly International Neighbors
Declining Poverty
Closing Thoughts on Gratitude and a Better World Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
0:00
40:56
Download MP3
Show notes
In this episode, we discuss the fallout from the government shutdown and how delays in federal economic data, including the Consumer Price Index and jobs reports, leave policymakers and the public effectively “driving without headlights.” We examine the broader risks of making monetary decisions without timely information and the political incentives surrounding data transparency. We turn to new reporting on Border Patrol surveillance, exploring constitutional concerns raised by nationwide license-plate monitoring, predictive algorithms, and civil asset forfeiture. We highlight the “foolishness of the week,” a Thanksgiving trend piece on secretly stoned dinner guests, before shifting to a Thanksgiving tradition of our own as we reflect on what we’re thankful not to have, from VAT taxes and debtors’ prisons to hostile borders, historic diseases, and restrictions on homeschooling and peaceful protest.
38:46 Closing Thoughts on Gratitude and a Better World Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices